


It’s Just Me Here

by schuylerhamilton



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 16:00:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 871
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14084469
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schuylerhamilton/pseuds/schuylerhamilton
Summary: He loves her, and it hurts to see her tell the world that she doesn’t love him.-(Or, Scott’s thoughts during the Tout le Monde en Parle and Ellen interviews, respectively.)





	It’s Just Me Here

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I’ve written in two years, so forgive any mistakes.
> 
> I noticed that Scott looked really sad/not himself during the TLMEP and Ellen interviews, and well, I came up with this.

He loves her so, so much. Scott knows he could talk for days about how amazing Tessa is, just go on and on about how much she means to him, and keep repeating that he wants to spend the rest of his life with her, and it wouldn’t matter. In interviews, Tessa is in charge, not him. Beautiful, media-trained Tessa could give people the sound bites they want, and smoothly avoid the question everyone has been asking lately. Well, everyone has always asked it, and he and Tessa had always firmly denied that no, they’re not dating. No skating around the question, no saying that it’s such a compliment, nothing. Just a firm no.

And now that’s not happening anymore. Scott knows there has been a change in their relationship, and that’s part of the reason that he and Tessa haven’t denied that they’re dating. Honestly, Scott doesn’t even know what they are anymore. How do you put such a simple label on a relationship that has blossomed and grown so much in twenty years? How do you deny that they have chemistry, or deny the obvious love that’s shared between them? He knows he loves her, and he really, really wants to tell the world.

He loves her, and it hurts to see her tell the world that she doesn’t love him.

The chairs on Tout le Monde en Parle are uncomfortable. Scott has spent the last ten minutes trying and failing not to sweat under the hot studio lights, and resists the urge to wipe his face, because it’s covered in sweat and caked in foundation that Tessa forced him to put on.

The interview is in French, and there’s a translator there as well. Thank god, Scott thinks, because his French is terrible and he doesn’t want to risk messing up and making a fool of himself on national television. Tessa sits beside him, wearing a green dress that makes her gorgeous green eyes pop, and Scott hopes she doesn’t notice him staring.

Scott knows that soon, the interview will be asking the question everyone wants an answer to, and Tessa, of course, will respond with one of her rehearsed “it’s such a compliment” answers. This is how it’s been for the past month, he knows the drill. But this is their final interview before Ellen, he realizes, and who knows what would happen on that.

The conversation has turned to the Question, which is what Scott has decided to refer to it as, and he sees Tessa break out into a smile out of the corner of his eye. This will be fine, he tells himself. She’ll just give her usual “business partners” speech. It will be fine.

“I’ve actually prepared an answer,” Tessa says, and Scott relaxes. It takes him a few seconds to realize that Tessa has gone quiet, and is looking at him. “Hold on, let me remember the words,” She laughs, and Scott is confused. He’s still confused when he hears Tessa say _“Nous ne sommes pas un couple,”_ and it seems like time slows down.

We are not a couple.

The words don’t seem to hit him until much later.

* * *

 

Scott’s seen enough of the American media to know that Ellen doesn’t come to play. She won’t dodge questions or say things she doesn’t mean. Ellen can see right through people. And if the Canadian media won’t buy their “business parters” act, Ellen sure won’t.

He woke up in LA, butterflies in his stomach. To him, it feels like competition day. Except, this time, the competition is Ellen, and the gold medal is, well, convincing her that they’re not together. Scott figures Ellen won’t be asking them questions about their skating, she’ll be asking them questions about their love life.

He was right.

Ellen tells them how nice it is that their fans managed to get them on the show, and then shifts to their chemistry, just like Scott knew she would. The electronic wall behind them shows photos of him and Tessa skating, and the crowd whoops.

“So, are you a couple?” Ellen asks, and Scott freezes. He looks at Tessa, silently begging her to just say they’re business partners, nothing more than that, no confirming, no denying. His mind races and he remembers Tout le Monde en Parle, just a few days ago. He fidgets, absentmindedly nods his head a bit, and waits for Tessa’s answer.

“We are not.”

He’d expected her to say that, of course, but the words still hit him like a train and he blinks. It’s one thing to say it in French, but in English? Scott feels like he just got punched in the stomach. Tessa continues with her business partners monologue, and Scott almost zones out.

“....and I felt so grateful to have lived the last twenty years by his side and to have shared that moment together.” Tessa looks him in the eyes, and Scott’s breath hitches in his chest.

“So you’re a couple.” Ellen states, and everyone laughs.

“Well-“ Scott starts, but Tessa cuts him off. “If we were, we’d announce it here.” She says.

_Well,_ Scott thinks, finishing his sentence. _I wish we were._

_But I guess it’s just me here._


End file.
